Isaiah 49

Listen to me, you islands. Pay attention, you peoples far away. The LORD called me before I was born. While I was still inside my mother, he spoke my name.

1Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

Note"Islands" (Hebrew *iyyim*) means the coastlands and islands of the Mediterranean, the farthest places a Hebrew speaker could name. Paired with "peoples far away," it is a way of saying the whole world, out to its edges.

2He made my mouth like a sharp sword. He hid me in the shadow of his hand. He made me like a smooth, polished arrow and kept me hidden in his quiver.

2And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;

NoteA sword and an arrow kept sheathed or in the quiver are weapons made ready and held in reserve, not weapons in use. The images say the speaker has been prepared and then kept hidden until needed.

3He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel. Through you I will show my glory."

3And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

NoteThe servant is addressed here as "Israel," yet in verses 5-6 the same servant is given a mission *to* Israel. Ancient and modern readers have divided over whether the servant is the nation itself, personified as a single figure, or an individual who stands in for the nation. The Hebrew permits both, and this chapter does not settle it.

4Then I said, "I have worked hard for nothing. I have spent my strength for no purpose at all. Yet my case rests with the LORD, and my reward is with my God."

4Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

Note"My judgment is with the LORD" is courtroom language. The Hebrew word *mishpat* here means the verdict in the speaker's favor, his vindication, not his own act of judging. He is saying his case is in God's hands, awaiting a ruling.

5And now the LORD speaks. He is the one who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him. Even though Israel is not gathered in, I will still be honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has been my strength.

5And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

NoteThe Hebrew here has two ancient readings that sound alike: the written consonants give *lo'*, "not" ("though Israel be not gathered"), while a traditional marginal correction reads *lo*, "to him" ("that Israel might be gathered to him"). The KJV follows the first, most modern translations the second.

6He said, "It is too small a task for you only to be my servant who raises up the tribes of Jacob and brings back the people of Israel I have kept safe. I will also make you a light for the nations, so that my rescue reaches the ends of the earth."

6And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

Note"Gentiles" in the KJV simply translates the Hebrew word for "nations": that is, all the peoples who are not Israel. It carries no other sense.

7This is what the LORD says, the one who buys Israel back, Israel's Holy One. He speaks to the one people look down on, the one the nation hates, the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and stand up, and princes will bow down. They will do this because of the LORD, who keeps his word, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

7Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

Note"Redeemer" translates *go'el*, a legal term from family law: the nearest male relative, who was obliged to buy back a kinsman's forfeited land, or to pay off a relative who had been sold into debt-slavery. Applying the word to God casts him as Israel's next of kin, under obligation to buy it out of captivity. "Servant of rulers" describes a people held in subjection to foreign masters.

8This is what the LORD says: "At the right time I answered you, and on the day of rescue I helped you. I will keep you safe, and I will make you a covenant for the people. Through you I will restore the land and hand out again the ruined places as property.

8Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

NoteA covenant is a binding, formally sworn agreement, like a treaty between a king and a people. The Hebrew phrase "give thee for a covenant of the people" is compressed and has always been difficult: the servant is not making a covenant but somehow embodying or enacting one, and translators differ over whether "the people" means Israel or humanity at large.

9You will say to the prisoners, 'Come out,' and to those sitting in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' They will graze along the roads and find pasture on every bare hill.

9That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

Note"High places" here has none of its usual biblical sense of a hilltop shrine. The Hebrew means bare, treeless hills, ground where flocks would not normally expect to find grazing at all.

10They will not go hungry or thirsty. The burning heat and the sun will not beat down on them. The one who has mercy on them will lead them and guide them to springs of water.

10They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

11I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up high.

11And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

NoteAncient roads were built up on raised embankments to keep them above floodwater and rough ground. "My highways shall be exalted" pictures a graded, engineered road, the kind prepared for a king's procession.

12Look, they will come from far away. Some will come from the north, some from the west, and some from the land of Sinim."

12Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

Note"Sinim" is a place-name that has never been identified with certainty. A Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript of Isaiah reads *Syene* (Aswan, at Egypt's southern frontier) which would make the list run north, west, and far south. Some later interpreters took it to mean China. The KJV simply leaves the Hebrew word untranslated.

13Sing, you heavens! Be glad, earth! Burst into song, mountains! The LORD has comforted his people, and he will have mercy on those of his people who are suffering.

13Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

14But Zion, the city of Jerusalem, said, "The LORD has abandoned me. My Lord has forgotten me."

14But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

NoteZion was originally the ridge in Jerusalem on which the city stood, and the name came to stand for Jerusalem itself and its people. Through the rest of the chapter Zion is spoken of as a woman, a wife abandoned and a mother who has lost her children.

15Can a woman forget the baby she is nursing? Can she stop caring about the child she gave birth to? Even if such women could forget, I will not forget you.

15Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

16Look, I have carved you into the palms of my hands. Your walls are always in front of me.

16Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

NoteThe image is of a permanent mark cut or tattooed into the skin of the hands, where its owner cannot help seeing it. "Thy walls" are Jerusalem's city walls, which lay broken down at this point; the picture is of their outline kept constantly in view, like a builder's plan.

17Your children are hurrying back to you, and the ones who tore you down and wrecked you are leaving.

17Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

NoteHebrew was written without vowels, and the same consonants here can be read *banayik*, "your children," or *bonayik*, "your builders." The KJV takes the first; a Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript and many modern translations take the second, giving "your builders hurry back."

18Look up and look all around you. They are all gathering together and coming to you. As surely as I live, says the LORD, you will wear them all like jewelry. You will put them on the way a bride puts on her ornaments.

18Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.

NoteBrides in this culture wore the family's jewelry on the wedding day, as much wealth as could be displayed at once. The returning children are the ornaments Zion puts on.

19Your ruins, your empty places, and your wrecked land will now be too small for all the people living in you. And those who swallowed you up will be far away.

19For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

20The children born to you after you lost the others will say out loud, where you can hear them, "This place is too cramped for me. Make room for me so I can live here."

20The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

21Then you will say to yourself, "Who gave me these children? I had lost my children and was left alone. I was a captive, moved from place to place. So who raised these? Look, I was left all by myself. Where did these come from?"

21Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?

22This is what the Lord GOD says: "Look, I will raise my hand to signal the nations and lift up my flag for the peoples. They will bring your sons back in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

22Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

NoteRaising a hand and hoisting a standard were both military signals: the standard was a pole with an ensign on it, raised on high ground to summon scattered troops to a rallying point. Here the signal is used to muster the nations, and what they bring back is Zion's children.

23Kings will care for you like foster fathers, and their queens will nurse you like mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD, and that those who wait for me will not be ashamed."

23And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

Note"Nursing fathers" and "nursing mothers" mean guardians who raise and provide for a child, foster parents, not wet-nurses in the literal sense. Licking the dust at someone's feet was the language of court protocol for total submission before a king. "They shall not be ashamed that wait for me" uses "ashamed" in its older sense of being let down or proved a fool for having trusted, disappointed, not embarrassed.

24Can loot be taken away from a strong warrior? Can prisoners be rescued from the one who holds them by right?

24Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?

NoteThe question assumes the ordinary rules of ancient warfare: plunder and prisoners belonged to the victor by right, and no one could demand them back. "The lawful captive" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning "the captives of a righteous one": that is, of a captor whose claim is legally sound. Some manuscripts and versions read instead "of a tyrant," matching verse 25.

25But this is what the LORD says: "Yes, the captives of the strong warrior will be taken away, and the loot of the fearsome one will be rescued. I will fight against anyone who fights against you, and I will save your children.

25But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

26I will make those who crush you eat their own flesh. They will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were sweet wine. Then everyone alive will know that I, the LORD, am the one who saves you and buys you back, the Mighty One of Jacob."

26And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

NoteMaking enemies eat their own flesh and drink their own blood is a proverbial picture of self-destruction, attackers turning on each other until they consume themselves. "Sweet wine" is new wine, freshly pressed and still fermenting.